Page:VCH Hertfordshire 1.djvu/125

 INSECTS With the exception of the Lepidoptera, the Coleoptera and a small section of the Diptera, no attempt appears to have been made to compile systematic lists of the insects of Hertfordshire. In the earlier decades of the nineteenth century James Francis Stephens, a clerk in the Admiralty, and in 1837 president of the Entomological Society, devoted his leisure hours to the study of natural history, and in the formation of his cele- brated collections of insects he made frequent visits to many localities within a moderate distance of the metropolis. The neighbourhood of Hertford appears to have been one of his favourite hunting grounds, and in his Illustrations of British Entomology he refers to the capture of speci- mens belonging to a good many species of Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Neuroptera, Trichoptera and Heteroptera in that part of the county. These records have now been brought together and, so far as the last four of the above named Orders are concerned, form the only local lists we possess. For some years past the Lepidoptera of the county have been carefully catalogued on behalf of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, and the annual reports of the recorders have been printed in the Society's Transactions. Economic entomology has received a considerable amount of atten- tion, and in connection with this branch of science the life-long investi- gations of Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, LL.D., F.E.S., Torrington House, St. Albans, must be prominently mentioned. The many useful works which have issued from her pen have done much to increase our know- ledge of the life history of insect pests and of the remedies which may be applied to check their ravages. At Tring is situated the Rothschild Museum of Natural History, where a staff of skilled entomologists is constantly engaged upon the study of both British and exotic insects. COLEOPTERA The Coleoptera of Hertfordshire have at present been somewhat inadequately studied, and much work remains to be done in many districts before anything like a complete knowledge is obtained of the local distribution of insects belonging to this Order. The subjoined catalogue consists very largely of species which have been noticed along the western side of the county in a district extending from Watford to 83